Korea Prime Minister Cup: Interview with Schayan Hamrah (Austria)

Schayan Hamrah, the Austrian player at the KPMC, found himself facing China’s Hu Yuqing in the fifth round. Ranka interviewed him just after the game ended.

Ranka: How did it go?Schayan: I was crushed. He was too strong.

Ranka: Well then, tell us about your games yesterday.Schayan: In the first round I had an easy win against the player from Iran. In the second round I played Milan Jadron from Slovakia. I had played him before. Slovakia is not far from Vienna, so I often go to Slovakian tournaments, and Czech tournaments. I like his fighting spirit. Games with him are always full of action, and this time I won. Then my game against Kwinten Missiaen from Belgium went very smoothly for me, and I won by a safe margin of about 15 points.

Ranka: Tell us something about yourself.Schayan: I was born in Vienna, but I come from a Persian background. My parents are Iranian. They settled in Vienna in 1990, where my father was a university student. I’m now 17 years old, attending high school. I’ve been playing go for three and a half years. I have dual citizenship, so I might be able to represent Iran at some future tournament.

Ranka: How did you get started?Shayan: I encountered the game by coincidence on the Internet. Then I saw the movie ‘The Beautiful Mind’, about a mathematician, in which there is a scene with a go board and they get very emotional about it. That was when I decided to learn to play, so I went to a go club in Vienna.

Ranka: Are you glad you started playing?Schayan: Of course. What a question!

Ranka: Do you play on the Internet?Schayan: I like to play lightning games on KGS, but I don’t like to play long games on the computer. It’s a bad atmosphere. I made an exception to play in the Pandanet team tournament, however, for the sake of Austria.